States of Crisis: Rethinking Art and Politics Today - Detailseite

Amid times of conflict and a global rise of authoritarianism, this course explores how art and politics intersect in current artistic and museum practices, primarily in the United States and Europe. Focusing on recent art and activism, we will examine how artists have critically addressed the histories of slavery, colonialism, and racialization; questions of identity and identification; as well as the themes of commemoration and musealization.

The course considers both canonical theoretical texts and emerging transnational and comparative perspectives in the study of contemporary art, emphasizing race critical, postcolonial, and postmigration approaches.

In one week of the course, students will visit a relevant exhibition at a major Berlin art institution.

Tina Campt, Listening to Images. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017.

Tina Campt, A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2023.

Peter Chametzky, Turks, Jews, and other Germans in Contemporary Art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021.

Jennifer A. González, Subject to Display: Reframing Race in Contemporary Installation Art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.

Katrin Sieg, Decolonizing German and European History at the Museum: Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021.

The seminar takes place in double sessions, Tuesdays, 4-7 pm, on the following dates:

14.10.2025, 28.10.2025, room 3.42, Georgenstraße 47

11.11.2025, 16.12.2025, 06.01.2026, 20.01.2026, 03.02.2026, room 0.12, Georgenstraße 47

The class would meet exceptionally on Monday on 01.12.25 as we will be visiting a museum that is closed on Tuesdays.

Hausarbeit